About Alan:

Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer is the Premier League's all-time top scorer with 260 goals and a leading TV pundit from the BBC's flagship football programme Match of the Day. Euro '96 Golden Boot winner Alan will be sharing his thoughts on all things football every week throughout the 2018/19 season.

The situation at Manchester United between Paul Pogba and Jose Mourinho is embarrassing. Embarrassing for the club, for the manager and for the player.

Unfortunately I can only see this ending one way, and that is with Mourinho losing his job. It’s a battle Pogba isn’t going to lose. Either he gets the move he wants to Barcelona (or wherever) or Jose will be sacked, as he has also not been getting positive results, and in today’s game the player normally wins.

I wouldn’t mind so much if Pogba was producing strong performances on the pitch every week, but he isn’t. But unfortunately for Manchester United and Jose Mourinho, he has come back from the World Cup in a stronger position.

The game has changed

I know people are comparing this situation to the Ferguson era, but the difference is Fergie could get rid of a player at any time as for much of his tenure there wasn’t a transfer window in place. If someone was behaving like Pogba is, he’d sell them. Fergie would not allow the issue to undermine his football club.

We saw it time after time, David Beckham, Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Roy Keane, it didn’t matter who it was or what they had achieved at the club, no one was bigger than Manchester United, he would not allow anyone to outstay their welcome or undermine his authority.

Players have the power now

Jose has taken on his players before at Chelsea and we know how that ended, he was shown the door, and I think the same outcome will happen here. Players are very powerful now.

Pogba has a huge contract behind him, they can’t sell him for the next two months and Mourinho isn’t getting results on the pitch. When I first started in the game, players had no power at all, but I really do think it has gone too far the other way now.

Jose Mourinho has tried everything to get it to work with Pogba. He gave him the captaincy but that didn’t work. He has now come out and criticised him publically. In Jose’s defence, he has had to do something because if the player is causing problems behind the scenes, he can’t just sit back and let it go on. I am amazed someone was able to film that footage on the training ground. Stuff like that doesn’t come out anymore as these training grounds have such high security. It looks to me like someone wanted that footage to be leaked.

There’s also no getting away from it, Manchester United were dreadful against Derby in midweek. Derby, on the other hand, were magnificent and deserved to win based on their 90 minutes’ performance, so we can’t take anything away from them. If United were getting results on the pitch, the Pogba sideshow would not be a big deal, but as soon as they start putting in poor performances, everything becomes an issue.

Liverpool should get a result against Chelsea

With Liverpool holding a 100% record in the League so far this season, and Chelsea unbeaten, something has to give when the teams meet in the Premier League this weekend.

I don’t think the midweek result in the Carabao Cup will have any influence on the game. Liverpool did not start with Mo Salah, Firmino and Alisson, amongst others, and they will all return for the League game, and while Chelsea rested some big names too, I don’t see Liverpool being beaten at Stamford Bridge.

Can Chelsea stop Liverpool’s front three?

There will be so many great attacking players on the pitch in this game. Hazard is as good as anyone in this league, but Liverpool pose so many threats too, I think they will cause Chelsea all kinds of problems. West Ham should have unlocked Chelsea’s defence last week, and Liverpool’s front three could cause them to come unstuck this weekend.

The Carabao Cup would have been at the bottom of the list of priorities for Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool this season, however, it is another chance to win a trophy gone. It is a competition that all the big six clubs will rest players in, but Klopp has to win a trophy this year so it puts more pressure on them now in the competitions they are still involved in.

Tiger’s still at the top

It was amazing to watch Tiger Woods win the Tour Championship last weekend, the scenes when he walked onto the 18th green were unbelievable. When you think he fell out of the world’s top 1,000 at one point, to get back to this level is an incredible achievement. And now he has had to give up the vice-captaincy in the Ryder Cup because he is going to play again!

What Tiger brings to golf cannot be replaced, he is still the biggest name in the sport, its biggest box-office draw, and his presence in the US team at the Ryder Cup has added even greater spice to this great contest.

Who’ll win in Paris?

As a golf fan I can’t wait for it to begin, the best players in the world are going head-to-head, and I fancy Europe to win back the trophy.

I know the Americans have such a strong line-up, but I do think the European players gel better as a team, and America haven’t won in Europe for a long time. You only have to look at Ian Poulter and how he always finds his best game for the Ryder Cup.

As a golfer you are on your own for 11 ½ months a year but this week is different in that you are part of a team, you have to think slightly differently.

Tiger doesn’t have the best record but I loved his response when someone asked him about going head-to-head with Rory McIlroy on the back straight on Sunday, and he said he’d love to as he is already 1-0 up after last Sunday! I really cannot wait for the first tee shot.